Jun 26, 2011

One of life's happiest occasions is a baby shower! But what if she lives in ________ (and you don't)? You can still celebrate by instilling the spirit of a shower into a thoughtful care package -- a shower (by mail).

This is exactly what I just finished planning for my dear friend Jess. And let me tell you - it was soooo much fun!

You see Jess and her hubby, Nate, live in California (aka: too far away from me if you ask me). So when I first heard they were expecting a baby in August my wheels started turning about how I could host a shower for Jess. You know how much I love throwing a shower?

But reality sank in fast ...I had forgotten (oops!)...I was also expecting a baby BEFORE Jess. There was just no way I would be able to make the trip to CA to host an in-person shower for her. Grr... I was totally bummed. But Dr. Google pulled through again. I started researching baby-shower-at-a-distance ideas and decided on a Baby Shower by Mail!

Let me tell you ladies... it was perfect! The ladies who participated loved it. I loved it. And most importantly Jess loved it.

So for those of you interested in knowing how to host a Baby Shower by Mail - here's my step by step guide to doing just that!

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How to "Host" a Baby Shower by Mail

1) Start a Facebook Event. Isn't Facebook wonderful?! When planning this event I knew there was no way I wanted to manage it all via email - so a Facebook event it was. Here are the things to include in the "More Info" portion of the event:

- Note if it's a surprise or not.

- Date that gifts need to be mailed to you by.

- Mailing address for gifts.

- Wrapping specifics. (I'll discuss this more below)

- Note for guests to keep in mind that all gifts will be mailed together so it's important they buy smaller gifts (if at all possible).

- Registry info.

- Invite guests to invite additional guests who might also be interested in participating. Hey - no one is FB friends with everyone, right?!

- Ask guests to RSVP via the FB Event so you know who to expect gifts from.

2) Collect Gifts. As gifts came in I kept all of them in one place and was sure to make a note of who sent what. That way it wasn't too overwhelming when it came time to put everything together.

3) Receipt Envelope - I wanted to be sure Jess had all of her gift receipts in one place so as the gifts came in I started a receipt envelope which I included in the Baby Shower package that was sent to Jess.

4) Wrap and Package up Gifts. I decided I wanted the package to look uniform (and cute of course) so I asked all of the "attendees" to not worry about wrapping the gifts as I would wrap them all once they arrived. I chose a couple different colors of wrapping paper and spent an evening (or two) wrapping all of the gifts that came in. I then packaged them in a large box and prepared the box for shipping.

5) Include a few fun/random items. I decided it wasn't a shower w/o some sort of sweet baked good. Now shipping a cake or cake pops is nearly impossible so I wrapped up a cake mix and frosting. Include your own fun random items in your shipment. The expecting mother will really appreciate the extra touches.

6) Ship it.

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And that's it!! It's easy-peasy and a great way to really bless the expecting parents.

Thanks so much to all of you ladies who participated in Jess's shower - she LOVED it.

And this post just wouldn't be complete without a picture of the guest of honor after receiving her Surprise shipment :)

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